


The Midnight Coffee Race

by EmilyWeaslette



Series: In Which Only the Most Drastic of Measures are Taken [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Coffee, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Friendiversary, Funny, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Language, Original Characters - Freeform, friends - Freeform, midnight coffee race, original - Freeform, swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyWeaslette/pseuds/EmilyWeaslette
Summary: Spencer is upset nobody remembered their friendiversary, so Nat comes up with the 'midnight coffee race' on the spot. Cue chaos.
Relationships: Natalie/Hazel, Original Characters/Original Characters, Ruby/Spencer
Series: In Which Only the Most Drastic of Measures are Taken [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750315
Kudos: 1





	The Midnight Coffee Race

“You know,” Ruby says drily, entering the living room. “When I invited all of you to come live with me and Spencer, this is not what I envisioned.” 

I shrug. “Well, you had to know that I was going to bring Jenny and Josh,” I say. 

“Jenny and Josh are fine,” Ruby rolls her eyes. “I was  _ talking _ about  _ those two _ .” 

She gestures at Jack and Henry, who are both sitting on the couch, surrounded by candy wrappers, empty pizza boxes, and crumpled up papers. 

“Well…” I hesitate. “What did you expect from two nineteen-year-old boys?” 

“Hygiene would be nice,” Katie snips, sinking into the couch next to me and planting a kiss on my lips. “Where are Jenny and Josh, anyway?” 

“Jenny is in her palace,” I inform her. “Josh is in my room, probably licking his ass. He’s been doing that a lot.” 

“Be nice to Josh,” Henry blurts, not looking up from his paper but pointing an accusatory finger at me. “He’s doing his best.” 

“Yeah, well, I’ve got to take him to the vet tomorrow,” I snap. “He keeps rolling around in bushes, trying to eat other dogs’s shit, and now he’s got fleas.” 

“Fleas are part of the package when you’ve got two dogs,” Spencer says, sitting down by the other boys, holding another pizza box. “They’re bound to happen to both of them at least once.” 

“Well, he’d better not give them to Jenny,” I sigh, leaning back. “It’s expensive enough to pay for flea meds for one dog, I don’t need both of them to have them.” 

Katie curls into my side, yawning widely. Her yawn is contagious; it sweeps around the room, hitting everyone except Henry. 

“You all can’t be tired  _ already _ ,” he protests, giving everyone incredulous looks. “It’s barely - oh. Midnight.” 

“Twelve fifteen,” Ruby corrects him, leaning over Spencer’s shoulder to give him a kiss. “I’m heading off to bed.” 

“No, no, no, you can’t!” Henry insists. “We’re supposed to be pulling an all-nighter!” 

“Henry, sweetie,” I roll my eyes. “I stopped pulling all-nighters when I graduated high school. What are you all working on over there, anyway?” 

“Top secret plans,” Jack says, yawning again. “I don’t even know anymore, something stupid Spencer wants to do for you three tomorrow.” 

“It’s not stupid!” Spencer says, offended. “And it’s  _ supposed _ to be a surprise, thank you very much.”

“Why are you planning a surprise for tomorrow?” Katie asks. 

“Because,” Spencer says, looking slightly crestfallen. “It’s… it’s the anniversary of us becoming friends. I thought - I thought we could all go do something fun. Surprise the girls, you know.” 

“Ah,” I say, straightening up. “Of course! I’d almost forgotten, I can’t keep track of the days. Obviously we’re going to do something fun. But I thought we could do it now. I mean, technically, it’s already tomorrow. It  _ is _ twelve twenty-one.”

“Really?” Spencer perks up. “What were you thinking?” 

“A, um…” I hesitate, glancing around the room, trying to come up with something on the spot. “A midnight coffee race, obviously!” 

“A midnight coffee race?” Katie asks, looking up at me. “What does that mean?” 

“It means,” I say, standing up. “That everyone needs to go put on their pajamas. Right now. Go.” 

Everyone looks at me, surprised and more than a little weirded out, until Ruby shrugs, stands, and heads to her and Spencer’s room. As soon as she leaves, the boys follow, leaving me and Katie to head to our room. 

“Natasha?” she asks me, once our door is closed. “What’s going on? Did you really plan something for our friendiversary?” 

“No, I did not,” I inform her, pulling a tank top on. “But did you see Spencer’s face when he realized that none of us remembered it? I mean, I didn’t think it was a big deal, but he clearly cares, so I’m coming up with all of this on the spot. And I think I’ve improvised a pretty good plan, but you have to wait and see like everyone else.” 

Once everyone is dressed, we meet back in the living room. 

“Alright,” I declare, standing importantly in the center. “We are all about to embark on a journey. Everyone out to the car! I’m driving, since I’m the only one that knows where we’re going, and Katie sits shotgun, because she’s my love. Everyone else sits in the back.” 

“We are not all going to fit,” Ruby says, deadpan. 

It’s true; I may love my car, a 1967 Chevy Impala, straight out of Supernatural, but the backseat is only big enough for three. 

“You will all fit,” I insist. “You may not fit  _ legally _ , but you will all fit. One of you may have to sit on the floor.” 

“Jackson,” the other three say in perfect unison. 

“Why me?” Jack sighs. 

“Because you’re the smallest,” Ruby says, slapping him lightly on the head and smirking. “And the youngest.” 

“I am not!” Jack protests. “Spencer is two inches shorter than me, and two months younger!” 

“Yes, well, I am not about to make my boyfriend sit on the floor,” Ruby shrugs. “Come on, off we go.” 

Our entire motley crew troops out the door, heading down to the parking garage below our apartment building. 

We drive for twenty minutes, before I pull off into an empty parking lot, park, and get out of the car. The rest of my friends follow suit. 

“Alright, soldiers,” I say. “Line up!” 

They meander into a straight line, and I begin pacing back and forth in front of them. 

“It is currently twelve forty-five a.m.,” I say. “On June the twelfth. It is our friendiversary, which means we must do something spectacularly fun, and spectacularly stupid. Together. As a group of idiots that have decided to band together to keep each other alive. And so, I present to you, the first annual… Midnight Coffee Race!”

“Would you please tell us what the fuck that means?” Henry rolls his eyes. 

“It means,” I say, glaring at Henry. “That there are a total of thirty coffee shops in this town that are open all night. We are going to divide into pairs, and each pair will take one of these maps.” 

I hold up a pile of papers, each a map of our town, all the available coffee shops circled in red. 

“In your pairs,” I continue. “You are going to travel to each of these locations on foot, buy a coffee, and drink it. In the trunk of my car, there are bags; you will take one, because you must save your cups with your names, and the location on them. You must drink the entire coffee before leaving the shop. The first pair back here gets off dish duty for a week. The last group here has bathroom duty for the week. Am I understood?” 

My friends all exchange looks, before shrugging and nodding. 

“Sounds fun,” Ruby grudgingly admits. “Is there a specific time that we  _ have _ to be back here by?” 

“Nope!” I say. “This will probably take a while, which is why we’re playing this game with coffee. You just have to go quickly, because you want to be the first, and you  _ don’t _ want to be the last. Are you ready?” 

“Yes,” They all chorus back at me. 

“Everyone take a map,” I hold out the papers. “Divide into pairs.” 

Katie and I pair up, while Ruby and Spencer are a team, leaving Henry and Jack by default. 

“Grab a bag,” I instruct them. “And  _ go _ ! The midnight coffee race has officially begun! If the cops stop you, just come up with something to tell them! Go, go, go!” 

The teams scatter from the parking lot. 

-{}-{}-{}-

“Which one should we go to first?” Katie asks me, as we hurry down the sidewalk, studying our map. It’s a bit difficult to see, as I didn’t think to bring flashlights, but we’re doing our best with our phones. 

“This one’s farthest away,” I point it out. “We could start there, and work our way back.” 

“Good plan,” Katie nods, taking off at a run down the sidewalk. “Come on, Nat, hurry! I’m not cleaning Jack’s toilet for a week because you’re slow!” 

I groan and hang my head, before I pick up the pace, running after Katie. 

It takes nearly an hour of alternating walking and running before we reach the cafe farthest from the car. Bursting through the door, panting and sweaty, we stumble up to the deserted counter and bang on the bell. 

“Can I help you?” A teenage girl asks, emerging from a back room. 

“We need two of whatever drink you have that has the most caffeine,” Katie gasps out. “But the smallest size you have.” 

The girl gives us weird looks, but begins making our drinks. 

“What brings you out here so late?” she asks, as she mixes them. 

“One of our friends was upset we weren’t doing anything for our  _ friendiversary _ ,” I explain. “So I invented the Midnight Coffee Race. We have to get a coffee from every open shop in the town, drink it, and get back to our car, or we have to clean the bathroom every day for a week.” 

“Sounds fun,” the girl laughs. “Well, here you go!” 

Katie and I grab our drinks and down them as fast as we can, burning our mouths in the process, but we don’t care. As soon as we we’re done, we toss the cups into our bag and hurry out, shouting a thank you to the girl behind the counter. 

As we rush towards our next stop, we pass Jack and Henry, heading towards the one we just came from. 

“You guys are slowpokes!” I tease them, upon seeing their empty bags. “You’ll have to move faster than that to win!” 

“Nah,” Jack shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure Ruby and Spence are going to be on bathroom duty. We might not win, but we won’t be last.” 

“Oh?” Katie asks. “What makes you so sure of that?” 

“We passed them on our way here,” Henry explains. “They’d stopped in an alley, and I’m pretty sure they were about to start having sex. At the very least, they were having an  _ extremely _ intense make-out session.” 

“Okay,” I say, starting back down the street. “Things I didn’t need to think about; that is very high on the list.” 

“It’s true they’ll probably be last though,” Katiel allows. “If they’re doing… that.” 

“Well, we’re going to be first,” I declare. “So move your ass, Kathryn, we’ve got to get going!” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Katie laughs, this time following me, as we sprint down the sidewalk. 

-{}-{}-{}-

It’s nearly five in the morning when we finally arrive back at my car. And, true to my predictions, we’re the first ones there, so we sit down and go through our cups, making sure we have all of them. 

“I’ve never been so exhausted yet energized in my life,” Katie sighs, flopping down in the backseat. 

“You’re telling me,” I say, bouncing my leg. “I’m not going to be able to sleep for a week, I’m so jittery.” 

“Well,” Katie pushes herself into a seated position. “We got them all, so we’re officially off dish duty for the rest of the week!” 

“And we don’t have to clean the bathroom!” I add, high-fiving her. 

Twenty minutes later, the boys arrive. They, too, have all their cups, and they join us in the car. Jack falls asleep almost instantly, laying down on the floor. It takes another ten minutes for Ruby and Spencer to show up. 

“Impressive time, for a team who got so… sidetracked,” I tease them. 

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Ruby rolls her eyes. “We knew we were going to be last.” 

“Yeah, so did we,” Henry snorts. “Come on, let’s go home before we get caught breaking the law. I’m pretty sure it’s a pretty hefty fine if you get caught driving with someone unconscious on the floor in the backseat.” 

At those words, we all hastily clamber back into the car, and head home. 

“Well, that was fun,” Ruby says as we reenter the living room. “But I’m going to go sleep for a week.” 

“Yeah, that’s a good plan,” Katie agrees, stretching her arms. “Nat, come cuddle with me.” 

We all drift off to our rooms and quickly fall asleep, and I don’t wake up until four in the morning the next day. 


End file.
